Recursion Pharmaceuticals, an emerging biotech in Salt Lake City, today announced that successful and serial technology entrepreneur and executive John Pereira, MBA, has joined the team as Chief Operating Officer. As former COO of Experticity, VP of AncestryDNA, and a leader of operational growth at Amazon in its earlier days, Mr. Pereira brings a wealth of experience in business management, operations, and technology strategy to Recursion’s rapidly growing business.

Chris Gibson, Ph.D., CEO of Recursion stated: “We are elated to bring John in as COO. His history of guiding businesses from startups to successes, and his extraordinary background in management, operations and strategy across industries is the perfect fit for us as we rapidly scale our complex business to meet the needs of our current and future partners, and ultimately to deliver on our mission to help bring 100 new treatments to patients in the coming years.”

The announcement of Mr. Pereira as COO follows closely on Recursion’s recent announcement of a successful $12.9M Series A funding round.

Leading Silicon Valley deep technology Venture Firm Lux Capital led the recent Series A. “Folks of John’s technology and operational caliber simply don’t find their way to pharma often. This addition is indicative of Recursion’s multidisciplinary approach and hyper-focus on technology development and operations first and foremost,” said Lux’s Zavain Dar, who also sits on the Recursion Board. “We see this not as a standalone announcement, but as a continued call to arms for top technologists and entrepreneurs across the country that Recursion is leading the charge in AI and pharma. If you’re serious about disrupting biotech with technology, AI, and automation, then there is unequivocally no other place to be.”

“Recursion’s unique approach, at the intersection of data science, artificial intelligence, and biology is truly impressive and groundbreaking. I couldn’t be more excited to join the team and help build out a world-class organization focused on curing diseases with unprecedented efficiency,” said John Pereira.

About John Pereira, MBA Mr. Pereira is former COO of Experticity, a service that connects millions of industry experts with the world’s biggest brands and retailers to increase sales. Prior to Experticity, Mr. Pereira was Vice President of all Product, Marketing and Operational activities at AncestryDNA, Ancestry.com’s DNA business unit, where he built and launched the service, ultimately delivering on Ancestry’s unique combination of genomics with family history. Mr. Pereira has also served as Senior Manager of Operations Integration at Amazon.com, where he increased partnerships and oversaw operations of the Canadian fulfillment center, and a Naval Officer for the US Navy, where he led the Navigation and Administrative Department of the USS Reid, among other positions and duties. In addition to these positions, Mr. Pereira serves on the Board of Directors for Athletigen and the Advisory Board of Channel Signal. Mr. Pereira has a passion for new technology and a desire to break down traditional business barriers that pervades every aspect of his career.